What is omnimemo?

More and more friends ask me what I would like to achieve with omnimemo? What kind of application I am building? What is omnimemo?

Well… to make the long story short, omnimemo is a service for people who would like to build rock-solid knowledge in a fast and efficient way.

I would like to implement application that will assist learner in his or her learning process.

It will learn how user learns. By building approximated model of user learning curve, omnimemo will compute optimum intervals between repetitions.

There are many factors that can be used to build model of learning curve and compute those intervals but in the first version of omnimemo I will focus on two main contradictory features.

• in the period of time frequency of repetitions should be as low as possible. The reason for that is that longer time between repetitions of certain material produces stronger association in the brain. This is so called spacing effect.
• … but students shouldn’t forget material before repetition, it means intervals between repetitions should be short enough to ensure that the knowledge is still remembered.

In the future versions of omnimemo I would like to combine local features specific to user learning process with the global features of the whole group of learners who try to master given pice of knowledge.

There is several algorithms and methods to choose from and experiment with. It will be interesting!

Apart from approximated model of user learning curve there are two more aspects that are equally important for me in the context of omnimemo.

First of all, I would like to embed in the omnimemo social aspect of learning process. I would like users to be able to share with their friends material they would like to master and enjoy spirit of collaborative learning. I remember when I was student that I had really good results when I studied with the group of my friends. We shared notes, materials and studied together. It was fun and effective!

Secondly, I would like to make it possible to learn almost everywhere. I would like to build version of omnimemo for mobile devices.

I definitely need version for my iPhone but I will also build version for Android because I like an idea behind this platform and would like to take this opportunity to master it while building sth useful.

There is still a lot of work in front of me but I strongly believe I can build sth that matters and brings value.

Refactor your wetware

Almost one year ago I had a great chance to speak at the Oredev conference in Malmo, Sweden. It was a new experience for me and opportunity to meet with and listen to very interesting people. One of them was Andy Hunt… I highly enjoyed his talk. I must admit he was the source of inspiration and the spark to an idea of a tool that can help people to learn… which I am currently working on in my free time.

There are two things I am really passionate about: computers and brains.

I love to program, build software and see how few lines of code can create things that really matter or bring fun.

I also like to debug our mind. I am interested in how we learn, how our memory works, how we can improve it and get most out of our brain. I learn, experiment and read a lot of books in this area. Most of the things Andy presented during his talk in Sweden were nothing new to me… but the way he did it and the context he put it in was really valuable and enjoyable for me.

Last week I read the latest book by Andy Hunt “Refactor your wetware”. It is great book that is fun and really can help to become more effective in learning process!

Easy to read, very pleasantly written with a lot of of examples that are very valuable especially from the perspective of a software developer. It is great introduction to anybody who is interested in the learning process, how our brains are wired, and how to take advantage of our brain’s architecture. It contains ideas and useful tips on how to solve hard problems, get innovative ideas.

It doesn’t go into details of mnemonics, memorizing techniques or more scientific models of our brain and learning process which in my opinion is only an advantage of this book. Lecture is engaging and motivates to more research in the area.

It is a well structured story that in my opinion should be a must read for all software developers…. together with another book by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas - Pragmatic Programmers.

I strongly encourage you to check this book out. Read it, enjoy it and dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

Thank you Andy!